Sega says it will exclusively release the next three games starring the popular blue critter on Nintendo platforms. The first title will be called "Sonic Lost World" and is set for release on the Wii U and Nintendo 3DS later this year.

"With 'Sonic Lost World,' we're going to introduce new gameplay and enemies, which is always fun," said John Cheng, president and chief financial officer of Sega of America Inc. "In terms of Sonic and his friends, he'll have his same friends there, and I think there'll be some new ones as well. It's not a reiteration. It's going to be all new."

The original fast-paced side-scrolling "Sonic the Hedgehog" debuted in 1991. The twirling, ring-hoarding hedgehog became Sega's mascot and a video-game icon rivaling the likes of Mario and Pac-Man.

While his recent interactive exploits haven't achieved the same level of success as previous "Sonic" outings, the character has remained a presence in pop culture, appearing in cartoons, downloadable games and the Disney film "Wreck-It Ralph."

"The onetime rivalry between Mario and Sonic has grown into a friendship that has never been closer," said Nintendo of America President Reggie Fils-Aime in a statement. "These announcements in conjunction with Sega demonstrate the commitment we have to bringing great games to the Wii U platform, and set the stage for our upcoming announcements at E3."

Sonic has competed against Nintendo's mustachioed spokesman Mario since 2007 in the "Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games" mini-game series. Cheng said the characters would be back for more match-ups in "Mario & Sonic at the Sochi 2014 Olympic Winter Games."

Over the past 22 years, Sonic and his friends have starred in dozens of games, including the hallmark 1992 sequel "Sonic the Hedgehog 2," 1997 3-D racer "Sonic R," 2002 hand-held adventure "Sonic Advance" and 2011 anniversary mash-up "Sonic Generations."

Sega says more than 75 million games and smartphone apps featuring Sonic have been sold worldwide. After the publisher stopped producing its own game consoles in 2001, Sega began releasing "Sonic" games for other systems, including Sony's PlayStation and Microsoft's Xbox.

Microsoft is expected to unveil a new Xbox console at an event in Seattle next week, following Sony's tease of the forthcoming PlayStation 4 earlier this year in New York.

Last fall, Nintendo launched the next generation of gaming consoles with the Wii U, which comes with a tabletlike controller called the GamePad. Nintendo said last March it has sold 3.45 million units worldwide, a disappointing start for the first of a new generation of gaming systems. Sega's Cheng believes bringing Sonic exclusively to the Wii U will help Nintendo.

"It should be a win-win situation," said Cheng. "Don't count Nintendo out."

Originally Posted by JohnnyV
This. I remember working in retail when the PS3 first came out. Was easily one of the greatest disappointments in video game launch history. Too many options, features missing on lower tier consoles, a pretty horrid launch lineup.

They have a lot of work to do, but the console isn't even a year old yet. A little early to be nothing but doom and gloom.

The PS3 had a rough start, that is true. Sony got too big for there boots, and released the thing at a ridiculous price and made the hardware hard to program for. However they never lost 3rd party support. EA and other companies did not start pulling out. I therefore don't see it as the same. Could Sony survive off its own IP's alone? Theirs no way the PS3 or xbox could do this.

Sony seem to have learned from their mistakes and the PS4 is pretty much a PC now, designed with what the dev's asked for, unlike Nintendo and the Wii U.

I really think people (mostly Nintendo fans) are over estimating just how strong Nintendo's IP's are and that the Wii U will be flying off shelves when Mario and friends comeout. As chosenone85 said in the last thread. Mario and Zelda were not the big sellers or system sellers on the OG Wii. No, it was Wii Sports and Wii Fit, those were Nintendo's big hitters that sold systems, along with motion controls. It wouldn't have made a shit lick of a difference if Mario was on the Wii or not, for Nintendo that was just icing on the cake. The Wii was a hit with the casuals, and now they are gone.

All these Nintendo games were on the Gamecube and they didn't save it from being a poor effort from Nintendo. We shall see how 2014 goes, but right now the Wii U is actually selling worse than the Gamecube.

People need to also realize that I was not the Zeldas, Marios, etc. that made the Wii so popular but it was the casual games such as Wii Sports (88 million sold), Wii Sports Resort (28 million sold), and Wii Fit (22 million sold). The novelty of the Wii and WiiU has worn off. Nintendo catered so much to the casual gamer that they did nothing to satisfy their hardcore audience. Casual gamers do not stick with a company from generation to generation, it is the hardcore gamers that do that.

I'm not going to lie, I'm kind of disappointed. Not that I don't understand the why, but they always backtrack eventually and given the ending to Arkham City, I would've loved to see them forge ahead with a new storyline. Perhaps like The Dark Knight Returns with an elderly, manic Bruce Wayne stepping back into costume to fight the Joker's child (A plot point I wasn't happy they debunked with the DLC). Or, hell, invite Will Friedle back and do Terry McGinnis's story.

Still, as any Batman fanboy would be, I am excited. Black Mask, Deathstroke, and Kevin Conroy back as Bats? That's a hell of a consolation prize.

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I LOVE conspiracy theorists. They are like human versions of the cymbal clapping, dancing monkeys. No one takes them all that seriously and they get bored with them after about 10 minutes.

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I LOVE conspiracy theorists. They are like human versions of the cymbal clapping, dancing monkeys. No one takes them all that seriously and they get bored with them after about 10 minutes.

All I can say is that, with it seemingly designed to integrate every conceivable function you would ever want to use on your TV, it better be 100% reliable. If your console craps out and you can't play games, that's one thing, but if your console craps out and you have a hard time doing ANYTHING because you've configured everything to work through the console, and doing the same stuff without it is a hassle, that's something else...

Didn't get to watch the full show but I like what I saw so far. I am all about the one stop shop for everything as I am trying to accomplish that in my house now.

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I LOVE conspiracy theorists. They are like human versions of the cymbal clapping, dancing monkeys. No one takes them all that seriously and they get bored with them after about 10 minutes.

So from reading that article, I can't buy a game and play it at a friend's house with paying extra? WEAK! That's basically a way to block used games too right? Unless buying a used "disc" comes with some type of code that will negate the fee.